By Roy Ramos
ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines
Philippine security forces arrested Thursday two suspected bombers with links to an al-Qaeda-linked militant group after they tried to claim a box containing 2,000 detonators from a ferry arriving from southern Sulu province – a known Abu Sayyaf stronghold.
City Police Director Angelito Casimiro said the box, sent by a person called Ambo on a ferry bound for Zamboanga City on Wednesday, raised the suspicion of security escorts and crewmembers - causing them to check its contents and discover 2,000 detonators inside.
When the ferry arrived at a local port Thursday morning, the boat's security contacted military personnel and policemen who waited for the box to be claimed.
Moments later, Saud Arnado and Almuksin Amilussin arrived, introducing themselves as the persons to whom the cargo was consigned - prompting their arrest.
Arnado told the police that the blasting caps were intended to be brought to Basilan, another Abu Sayyaf stronghold – but refused to divulge information on the identities of the shipper and the consignee.
During an investigation, police recovered from Amilussin's possession a cellphone containing a video clip of an ambush perpetrated by the Abu Sayyaf in Basilan.
Police were still pursuing the duo's other cohorts in Zamboanga City.
The arrests come as authorities are keeping close watch on reports that Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL) militants have recruited members of the Abu Sayyaf in Mindanao.
A video posted in late July that opens with al-Qaeda’s symbolic black flag shows senior Abu Sayyaf leader Isnilon Hapilon – who carries a $5 million U.S. bounty on his head and has been indicted in Washington for “terrorist acts” against foreign nationals - alongside masked men pledging allegiance to ISIL.
Since 1991, the Abu Sayyaf -- armed with mostly improvised explosive devices, mortars and automatic rifles -- has carried out bombings, kidnappings, assassinations and extortions in a self-determined fight for an independent Islamic province in the Philippines.
It is notorious for beheading victims after ransoms have failed to be paid for their release.
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